ABSTRACT

Background: In the spring of 1988, a delegation of German leftists visited Turkey to show support for Dev Sol members who were being tried in Turkey. During that visit they interviewed Dursan Karatas, a leading member of Dev Sol who was in prison at that time. Karatas subsequently escaped from a Turkish prison in late 1989, went on to reorganize Dev Sol, and currently is considered to be a major operational leader in the group. The following interview was published in a Dutch underground publication known as Knipselkrant (No 7, August 1988, pp.21-4). It is published here in English for the first time.